Iran calls on traders to help dull the impact of sanctions

President Hassan Rouhani’s government insists that a canny mix of oil sales to private traders, the deployment of ghost tankers (which turn off their tracking devices so their movements cannot easily be traced) and legitimate sales to a handful of countries covered by a six-month US waiver means it can maintain oil sales to domestic and international customers alike. While there are problems with the private oil sales in particular, these measures represent important tools for Tehran as it tries to prevent its oil exports from dwindling fast.